RHODcast: Apr 23, 2026

Long to Rain Over Us

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To celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Second, memories of one of the Queen’s most incident-filled world tours. Having accepted an invitation from President Reagan to visit his home state of California in February and March 1983, the Queen and her party run into some really wild and wet weather. In Long to Rain Over Us, Rhod Sharp and his guests Andrew Morton (“The Queen” “Diana ””The Morton Files“) and Emmy-award winning broadcaster and columnist Patt Morrison talk over the tour which threw them together and how, often enjoyably for the Queen, things went West.

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When Jazz Came to Europe

The British Invasion. Europop. Bubblegum. The West Coast Sound. In the age before instant gratification, musical trends used to take their time to cross the Atlantic. As teenagers in Liverpool, John Lennon and Paul Macartney relied on American sailors and local music stores to bring them the latest from, say, Big Mama Thornton and Little Richard. Similarly, when Sam Wooding took his eleven piece band and 30 dancing girls by sea and rail to Berlin in 1925, they were lionized. Not least because, unlike in Paris, Black faces were a complete rarity. Much more than that, as their fame spread around the continent so did the American style of syncopated jazz they brought with them. Tony Staveacre and I are happy to bring you the story of When Jazz Came To Europe.

Tony’s Taste of Comedy

When Tony Staveacre was trying to get to the bottom of his life’s obsession with comedy, he went back to the 4th century BCE for a word from Aristotle. The great dramatist opined that it is the power of laughter which defines us as human beings. So when the news is grim and we are looking for messengers we can trust, their ability to put things in perspective can often raise an unexpected laugh. In the words of The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan’s washed-up spy sealed-off from the outside world in a dystopian village, “humour is the very essence of a democratic society.” In this flying visit to a century of fun, with stops in both forgotten and unforgettable places, TS presents Tony’s Taste of Comedy.

Dream World – The Life and Death of Al Bowlly

Tony Staveacre has been back into his archives and once again he has pulled out a plum. Tapes and tapes of interviews from the mid-1970s with musicians who played with one of the greatest stars of them all. As we face uncertain times, it’s cheering to discover that in the middle of the Depression, people partied like there was no tomorrow. Out in front was an inveterate party animal, a crooner who went from singing for theatre queues to outselling Bing Crosby. At the height of his fame in Britain, Al Bowlly set sail for America where he promptly headlined the brand new Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. It seemed he was going up and up, until he wasn’t. And then the bomb fell. Here, with seven of his original hits, TS presents Dream World – The Life and Death of Al Bowlly.

Tim’s Comedy Links

Early in 2002, Tony Staveacre proposed a radio show to his friend, the beloved British comedian Tim Brooke Taylor. They would celebrate at least two of Tim’s great loves, after his family – golf and comedy – by playing a round together at the club where Tim grew up and learned to play, the Cavendish in Buxton Derbyshire. Actually Tim would play and Tony would caddy for him. Tim’s Comedy Links is a celebration of some great radio comedians who were to Tim what he was to a new generation.

The Band Played On

On the Titanic eight members of Bristol’s charmingly named Savage Club sat down at their instruments in the city’s Red Lodge and started to play. The resulting entertainment, scripted by Tony Staveacre and thick with the atmosphere of an Edwardian parlour, was The Band Played On. Here Tony and I recreate this paeon to White Star Orchestra, the band on SS Titanic.

Astor Piazzolla – The Last Interview

In July 1989 the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla flew from Berlin to Bristol, UK, at the invitation of a BBC producer. Tony Staveacre was convinced that Piazzolla would make an excellent subject, and so it turned out. One July night, Piazzolla and his sextet played a memorable set before an invited studio audience. He also sat for an interview and talked frankly with Tony about the troubled birth of the musical form he invented – New Tango. It was to be his last public conversation, and never broadcast. Here is that interview for the first time, stirringly illustrated from the sextet session – more than thirty years since Piazzolla’s death.

Allan Schiller – Music Made Me, part two

ALLAN SCHILLER launched his professional career as a concert pianist at the age of nine, playing Haydn’s D major Concerto with the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra at Leeds Town Hall. He went on to make his name as a soloist, playing for audiences near and far with great international orchestras. In this second part of “Music Made Me” we can hear a shy and gifted young student grow into his illustrious career while coming to terms with life in 1960s U.S.S.R.

Allan Schiller – Music Made Me, part one

ALLAN SCHILLER is a modest maestro, acclaimed in The Guardian as the best Mozart interpreter of his generation. Now aged 80, and still playing his Steinway for several hours a day in his Bristol home, he has taken time out to write and record an account of his life in music. Here it is, read by the author, who also provides the elegant musical illustrations.

Jigsy – Les Dennis & Tony Staveacre

The actor Les Dennis and writer Tony Staveacre talk to Rhod about the reinvention for YouTube of their show “Jigsy” about a Liverpool comic working the failing club circuit and what makes Liverpool humor special.